And Just Like That
by Solard
Summary: A yogurt top gold medal attached to a note, a change of heart, a happily interrupted interview, a last-ditch effort, and the right timing all add up to a date four years in the making. If you're reading, pls take a mo' to review...?


**Disclaimer: **I do not own The Office or any of the characters, or the costumes or the set or the original idea. This is purely for my own entertainment. (The last several lines from the second half of the episode entitled The Job are quoted in the first paragraph of this story.)

I do, however, own the Barbie and Ken that I fashioned into Jim and Pam action figures ;-)

**And Just Like That…**

She had almost convinced _herself_ – even if Pete, the cameraman, didn't seem to buy it, when the door suddenly swung open. "Pam," Jim turned distractedly toward the smirking cameraman, "'Scuse me," he said and looked back toward her, "are you, uh, free for dinner tonight?"

Without a moment's hesitation, she said simply, "Yes."

That smile… oh! that smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, "…it's… a date, then." And he was just as suddenly gone.

She couldn't focus. On anything. For a full thirty seconds. Collecting herself enough, she turned toward the camera and said simply, "I'm sorry…what was the question?" But she suspected her face wasn't quite under control.

* * *

Several hours later, she sat opposite her former best friend; he, filling up that hole which (she hadn't realized until now) had somehow grown inside her over the last year; and she, throwing him the rope for which he'd almost stopped looking. "So…" she began hopefully. 

"So," he answered with not a trace of smile…only…something indefinable lodged in his throat and reddening him from neck up. "I…uh…" but he stopped.

She held his gaze as long as she could stand it, and finally slipping into old habits, looked down at her menu; courage was rising…but maybe courage wasn't the answer this time. She'd expended her reserves of the stuff at the beach already…and…? Well, maybe it _should_ be his turn again. Maybe he needed it to be his turn. So…she waited.

"Hey…uhm," he began again, but…stopped. And now _he_ was looking down at his menu.

Pam slid her tongue between her front teeth and kept it securely behind her decidedly closed lips. All her nerves were awake to the fact that 'this' was something big. Something monumental. Something for which she had been poised with little-to-no hope since she'd told Roy "no – we're done…" for the last time. She could wait it out…this awkwardness. She'd grown accustomed to the sensation, frankly; it didn't unnerve her so much anymore.

Jim cleared his throat and she glanced up at the same time he did and they caught and held – 'right…_there_' – his eyes were glistening (just a little) and hers must have been too, because his face went a little 'woogly' (a word they came up with for when everything you're looking at goes a little, well, _woogly_) and she was afraid to blink because she didn't want anything to spill down her cheek and give him the impression that he had to let her down gently because she was _crying_ or anything… Because they were _friends_…they would _always_ be frie-

And then he laughed. Just like that. And whatever excellent degree of indefinable something that had lodged in his throat and made him unable to get any words out suddenly became the means of breaking the gag order and he laughed and said, "Geez – look at us…," simultaneously thrusting his hand forward over the table, "Hi, my name is Jim Halpert… and you are?"

Then she laughed too and took his hand in both of hers, pumping it wildly, "I'm Pam…Beesley. I answer the phones?" And as their absurd handshake stilled, she didn't let go of his hand (and he didn't pull away, either) until their former handshake just …sort of _alighted_ on the table.

He turned his hand over gently and covered her smaller hands with his bolder one and said, as he stared at them on the table, "I didn't…get the job."

Her heart pumped wildly in her, slightly squishing against her vocal chords…or, well, it _seemed_ that way, because she had to clear her throat a little to be able to say anything and when she did all that came out was, "No?"

She ventured a peek up at him and he was already studying her face for clues. "I'm, uh…I'm happy, actually," he said.

And without a moment's hesitation, she said simply, "Me too."

And that smile, oh! that smile lifted the corners of his mouth exposing those perfect teeth, "I'm happy you're happy."

At that moment she realized he was lightly tracing her knuckles with his thumb and she relaxed into the small intimacy of it with the ease and practice of a thousand daydreams, and smiled – wide and sure – at him. The motion stopped and her assurance slipped – just a little – as he tugged her hands toward him and leaned over the table, coaxing her into their first (no, second) (no – actually, their _third_) kiss. It too ended, almost as an afterthought, with his lips supporting her forehead, their heads tented over the table… He whispered into her hair, "Do you want this as much as I want this…?"

And all she could do was nod – enthusiastically – 'yes'.

He chuckled deep in his throat – she _felt_ it rather than heard it – and said, "Good…because I don't think I've got a third time in me…" And she smiled but sort of cried, too, because she didn't think she could be magnanimous enough to watch him date someone _else_ again, either.

They both leaned back a little ('distance lends perspective', she quoted in her head from her night school art textbook) and she saw the corner of his smile quirk up, "You wanna get outta here?" his voice all saucy. And her mind reeled through all the vicissitudes of their five-plus years long relationship and before she could argue herself out of the wisdom (or lack) of it she said, "Oh, yes!" and they both stood as one; she, almost knocking her chair backward and he, coming around to help her with her coat.

She didn't say a word as Jim guided her out the door with his hand lightly on her back and as he unlocked the car and as he shut the door and walked around and sat down next to her. As he bent to fasten his seat belt and looked up at her, she leaned in and kissed him – hard – on the mouth. The gesture took him by surprise but he covered well.

"Only one kiss in three whole years... and now two in one night…damn, Beesley…" He leaned in and kissed her lightly again, whispered "Three" and straightened to start the car. He cleared his throat, avoided looking at her and said, "Where to?"

Pam hesitated only a moment before saying, "You haven't seen my new apartment, yet…"

He turned to her and said, "No…no I haven't." And somehow, though she couldn't remember ever having given him her address, he took all the right turns and they pulled in front of her apartment without her giving him one direction. "Is…this the right one?" he asked. She nodded and then they just sat in the darkness looking at each other for a long moment.

She glanced at her apartment through the windshield, "You knew?" and looked back at him. He shook his head 'no' but the smile that crept back onto his face betrayed him and she laughed. "You been stalking me, Halpert?" she giggled.

He shook his head 'yes' this time while_ that_ smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, exposing a glimpse of his perfect teeth, "Shut up, Beesley; invite me in," he said.

And without a moment's hesitation she said simply, "Yes."


End file.
